Lund, Frances E.

CD38 is a cell-surface protein involved in calcium signaling and contractility of airway smooth muscle. It has a role in normal airway responsiveness and in airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) developed following airway exposure to IL-13 and TNF-α but appears not to be critical to airway inflammation in response to the cytokines. CD38 is also involved in T cell-mediated immune response to protein antigens. In this study, we assessed the contribution of CD38 to AHR and inflammation to two distinct allergens, ovalbumin and the epidemiologically relevant environmental fungus Alternaria. We also generated bone marrow chimeras to assess whether Cd38+/+inflammatory cells would restore AHR in the CD38-deficient ( Cd38−/−) hosts following ovalbumin challenge. Results show that wild-type (WT) mice develop greater AHR to inhaled methacholine than Cd38−/−mice following challenge with either allergen, with comparable airway inflammation. Reciprocal bone marrow transfers did not change the native airway phenotypic differences between WT and Cd38−/−mice, indicating that the lower airway reactivity of Cd38−/−mice stems from Cd38−/−lung parenchymal cells. Following bone marrow transfer from either source and ovalbumin challenge, the phenotype of Cd38−/−hosts was partially reversed, whereas the airway phenotype of the WT hosts was preserved. Airway inflammation was similar in Cd38−/−and WT chimeras. These results indicate that loss of CD38 on hematopoietic cells is not sufficient to prevent AHR and that the magnitude of airway inflammation is not the predominant underlying determinant of AHR in mice.

CD38 controls the chemotaxis of leukocytes to some, but not all, chemokines, suggesting that chemokine receptor signaling in leukocytes is more diverse than previously appreciated. To determine the basis for this signaling heterogeneity, we examined the chemokine receptors that signal in a CD38-dependent manner and identified a novel “alternative” chemokine receptor signaling pathway. Similar to the “classical” signaling pathway, the alternative chemokine receptor pathway is activated by Gαi2-containing Gi proteins. However, unlike the classical pathway, the alternative pathway is also dependent on the Gq class of G proteins. We show that Gαq-deficient neutrophils and dendritic cells (DCs) make defective calcium and chemotactic responses upon stimulation with N-formyl methionyl leucyl phenylalanine and CC chemokine ligand (CCL) 3 (neutrophils), or upon stimulation with CCL2, CCL19, CCL21, and CXC chemokine ligand (CXCL) 12 (DCs). In contrast, Gαq-deficient T cell responses to CXCL12 and CCL19 remain intact. Thus, the alternative chemokine receptor pathway controls the migration of only a subset of cells. Regardless, the novel alternative chemokine receptor signaling pathway appears to be critically important for the initiation of inflammatory responses, as Gαq is required for the migration of DCs from the skin to draining lymph nodes after fluorescein isothiocyanate sensitization and the emigration of monocytes from the bone marrow into inflamed skin after contact sensitization.